There are over 50 communities in Lake County. As the demographics of each community varies wildly, so does the quality of each town’s website.

I checked out the web sites from a commuter’s point of view. Namely, I looked for the following:

Does the community’s website have a section dedicated to its road maintenance program (if it has one)? Usually, Public Works assumes this role.

Is road construction information easy to find on the community’s website?

Does the community provide electronic updates to residents regarding road maintenance, via the website, email or automated phone messages?

Is the community’s road maintenance web page updated regularly?

Does the community’s website provide exceptional convenience to residents who have road maintenance concerns?

Admittedly, there is variation amongst communities regarding the amount of road construction performed. It’s not fully clear to me as to which communities don’t handle road construction at all. Perhaps reader insight can help clarify these things.

I also emphasize that this is not a review of “Best Overall Community Websites.” I tried to focus primarily on the motorist/commuter features.

With that said, here are my picks for Lake County’s most informative community websites for motorists and commuters:

Progress-oriented: Per Highland Park’s website, “In Fiscal Year 2006, the City launched a five year program to upgrade City streets. ” The City developed a Pavement Condition Index and assigned a rating to each city street. It sounds like an ambitious plan, and this Lake County Motorist is eager to see how it plays out. The web page hasn’t been updated since 2007.

Winter detail: Vernon Hills’ website includes the village’s snow and ice removal plan, presented as a massive 19MB PDF. I applaud the Village for providing such a detailed document to the public, but it would be nice if an abridged version were also available for download.

Better in winter: Libertyville’s website didn’t appear to list any construction updates, but the site lists comprehensive information regarding snow plowing routes and timing. The site lists the specific streets the Village is responsible for plowing, comprising one of the most detailed lists of its kind among the community websites (Zion also provides a similarly detailed street name list).

Wauconda publishes infrastructure construction updates to a dedicated section of its website. Projects are grouped as Approved or Planned. Road projects are a part of, but not the only component of, these lists.

Convenience for residents: Residents can file requests for many village services online, including pothole patching, street light repair, and restoration requests. Users can even request new street signs and (presumably) traffic signals online.

Cons: Grayslake’s Construction Updates web page provides only one-liner project descriptions and updates regarding village construction, including roadwork. I would like to see more comprehensive information provided on this page, such as project start date and end date. The web page directs readers to file a request for service to obtain more details – not very user-friendly for non-residents (or is that the point?)

Cons: No firm dates published yet for projects slated to begin “soon” such as Washington Street construction (which was delayed due to ongoing construction on the Route 120 bridge over I-94) and the Grand Avenue resurfacing. However, this is not a major “con”. The lack of firm dates is understandable, because some of these projects depend on other roadwork to be completed first.

Dig those construction updates: Hats off to Deerfield for posting comprehensive roadwork updates on the village’s website. The updates include a weekly Construction Forecast listing the work plans by-day, by-street. The village lists projects for which they are responsible, as well as those under other jurisdiction such as the ISTHA and the County.

Lake County is kicking 48 roadwork projects into gear. Funding will come from the quarter-cent transportation tax approved during the mass transit “doomsday” crisis of Winter ’08. Included are several key projects County residents have been eagerly anticipating. A few thoughts on those with which I am familiar:

1) Widening of Route 21 from 137 to Route 120 in Libertyville and Gurnee

This is a major southbound bottleneck during the morning commute. Glad to see it’s on the list.

2) Widening of Routes 60, 60/83 and 45 in the Mundelein and Vernon Hills area

The Delaney morning delay is awful, and the left-turn signal onto U.S. Route 41 never seems to last long enough. Widening is great, but can something be done about this intersection?

5) Widening of Washington Street from Hunt Club Road to Cemetery Road in Gurnee

Also much needed. Washington needs all the capacity it can get.

I haven’t experienced rush hour at the “Millburn Strangler” on Route 45, but having driven in the area I can understand how cars could stack up there.

6) Widening of Washington Street from Lake Street to Hainesville Road in Grayslake

Currently, traffic narrows from two lanes to one west of Lake Street, right before reaching the Metra tracks and Washington Street Metra station. It’s an evening commute bottleneck.

Projects about which I’m not so sure:

Intersection expansion and improvement at Wadsworth Road and Route 41 in Wadsworth. This one can be congested westbound during the morning rush if a train interferes, but there are much more congested intersections than this one; how’d it make the list?

Not sure if an underpass at Fairfield, Route 134 and the Metra tracks in Round Lake is as traffic-essential as the other projects.

The News Swami has a witty take on the whole mess of affairs, along with suggestions as to what projects should be added to the list. I heard a rumor that the repaving of the dark side of the moon – I mean, Grand Avenue near Gurnee Mills – has been given a “go”, but haven’t a link to share to prove it.

Wednesday night’s Route 120 Land Use Planning Workshop was held after rush hour, all the better for westbound motorists to get a feel for the issue at hand: figuring out how to get all those people where they need to be, without damaging the community in the process.

As someone who had only seen scraps of information about the Route 120 bypass until [somewhat] recently, I was excited that progress was being made and information being shared.

Washington Street, as any frequent traveler of this road could attest, is in sore need of an upgrade. The pavement is pocked in places, cracked in others. There is a river of ruts delineating the left and right westbound lanes running all the way from US Route 41 to O’Plaine Road. I may avoid it for a while, but sooner or later I find myself turning west on Washington from northbound Milwaukee Avenue, staying within the lines like a kindergartener with a crayon lest my car be jiggled by the patchy trail.